I got my PIR video today.
I considered NOT watching it. First of all, I was THERE and saw it LIVE. Second of all, Jamie was not actually on the Drill Hall deck with his division (because he wasn't performing which doesn't seem quite right, but it's the Navy...) so I wouldn't get to see him. Third...well, there was no third because I was putting the DVD in the player by that time.
My heart still swelled with pride when the drumline played. I could still pick out my friend Nicole's son in the fl…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on August 8, 2008 at 2:14am —
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Jamie moved "across the street" today to Naval Station Great Lakes for 19 weeks of A school.
The way I count it, 19 weeks from now is the end of November or the beginning of December. I am hoping he gets leave and can come home for a while after A school, but I'm learning that what I hope for and what the Navy does are not necessarily the same thing! I remember his recruiter saying something about if Jamie spends time with him (the recruiter), those days won't count against his leave time. I'll…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on August 8, 2008 at 2:02am —
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We got lucky: because Friday was a holiday, our sailors graduated on Thursday. That meant that we got a whole extra day with them. They also got to stay out later than most groups because of the holiday.
We (Jamie, me, Leyna, his dad and his stepmom) all finally met up on the Drill Hall deck for a few minutes. Jamie wanted to rush back to his ship, pick up his stuff and "get as far away from base" as he could...as quickly as he could.
The rest of us went to the NEX to wait for him. We were goi…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on August 8, 2008 at 1:50am —
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There was a great deal of discussion about what time we should get to PIR. Someone (I think Nicole) said that one of the Navy Lodge housekeepers told her that people sometimes began lining up as early as 3 am. That sent a panic through the crowd. We were all wondering if we needed to be there that early. I decided that I was not leaving the hotel until 6 am. If I was late for a 9:00 ceremony, they'd have to start without me.
I think Nicole and her crew left about 5, because about 5:15 I got a c…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on August 8, 2008 at 12:00am —
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It's taken me a REALLY long time to get around to posting these blogs. I think it's taken me this long to wrap my head around what went on. How special it was.
Leyna and I flew out of Atlanta at 2:00 our time and arrived in Chicago about 3:00 their time. The flight was uneventful (and there were's TOO many screaming babies!!). We waited FOREVER to pick up our rental car -- which, by the way, had THE most obnoxious seat-belt-reminder dinger ever made! But apparently we hit Chicago traffic JUST R…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on August 7, 2008 at 10:30pm —
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He passed BattleStations! I got the call in the middle of class. I had already told my instructor that Jamie was running BattleStations and that I was expecting a phone call. She was very understanding.
So anyway, the phone vibrates, I grab it off the table and RUN out of the room so I can answer before it rolls over to voicemail and I miss the call. The voice on the other end was so soft and subdued (two words I've NEVER used in relation to Jamie!) that I was afraid he'd failed.
"I passed," w…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on August 7, 2008 at 10:00pm —
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They are ALL going to pass BattleStations. They've worked so hard and they've come so far in the last 2 months. NOTHING is going to go wrong now.
THEY are going to be fine and SO ARE WE! No one is going to have to hijack a plane or make a U-turn on the interstate.
We are going to get together Wednesday night and talk until our throats are raw, hug until our arms hurt and smile til we can't smile anymore.
Then we're going to get up Thursday morning before the sun is up, cry while showering, st…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on July 8, 2008 at 1:23pm —
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I'm sending my last card to Great Lakes for a while.
I've sent a card every day since Jamie left for bootcamp on May 7. I wrote the first one on May 6 while he was spending the night at MEPS before he even left. I sent two on Mondays (one for Sunday, one for Monday).
I have devoted a great deal of time to this. I feel like something's missing from my life. I tried to send him something every day that would make him smile. I've gone through two color ink cartridges from printing silly pictures…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on July 8, 2008 at 1:22pm —
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I want to go to bed and not get up for a month. Honestly, if no one bothered me, I could sleep from now until the middle of July. I am JUST THAT TIRED.
It's not like I don't know why: working full time; going to school; going to clinicals; starting this new relationship (or whatever we're doing), organizing stuff for PIR; trying to keep my house just clean enough so the health department doesn't come to condemn it; and trying to keep up with laundry just enough that we don't have to go buy new…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 29, 2008 at 12:15pm —
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I've re-affirmed my decision to focus on pediatric rather than adult nursing. I'm not changing my "family" nurse practictioner program to a "pediatric" program, but I would certainly like to stay in peds when I graduate in May.
I got my nursing degree in 1993 and have done nothing but pediatrics since. I've worked in general pediatrics and pediatric intensive care. Since January, as part of my NP education, I've been doing clinicals with family practice doctors seeing mostly adult patients. It…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 27, 2008 at 7:00pm —
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I feel like such a grown up: I am learning to drink wine.
Now, don't get me wrong, I've drunk wine before. It came from the grocery store and cost about $4 a bottle. It had a screw off top and it was intended for one purpose only (and it was not about tasting good).
No, I am talking about grown up wine that comes with a cork and was bottled before last Tuesday. I've always wanted to "learn" about wine, but it seemed so intimidating.
I mentioned this to the new man and he went ballistic! "I ca…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 22, 2008 at 1:34am —
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I am getting tired of missing people.
First Jamie goes off to bootcamp and I can't blow up his cell phone (his terms) every 10 minutes. Then Leyna gets a job and can't come home as often as she usually does. Now, the new man in my life is off for Paris -- yes, Paris ... like the one in FRANCE!
OK....bootcamp is a good thing. I looked forward to it for more than five months and at least once, thought it wasn't going to happen. I miss him, but it's almost over. We are almost to single-digit days…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 22, 2008 at 1:10am —
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Why do girls/women have such a hard time telling their moms that they are having sex? Do they think their
moms never did?
I had a 22-year-old in clinical today for her first pelvic exam and pap smear. The poor thing was terrified. Every time the door opened, she jumped. Her heart was pounding, her palms were sweating and she looked like she was about to cry.
I sat down with her to try to explain what was going to happen; that it wasn't as much fun as a day at the beach, but it was NOT a…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 22, 2008 at 12:30am —
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I was talking to a (male) friend about the differences between men and women -- and why we were probably not really meant to live on the same planet.
They think with
boy brains and
we think with
girl brains. I know there are sociologists out there just CRINGING at this thought, but I hate to tell them, IT'S TRUE.
Boys and girls are wired differently. And I really believe much of it is "hard wiring" not something learned from society.
For instance, when my children…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 20, 2008 at 2:31pm —
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How do you 9-to-5ers get anything done?!?
I've been in a physician's office all week doing clinicals. We start seeing patients about 8:30. We finish up for the morning between 12:30 and 1. We're back seeing patients at 2 and are done between 5 and 5:30.
Then I come home and want to DIE I'm so tired. I have about a ba-jillion and a half things I need to do (laundry, dishes, start studying for my test Tuesday, write my H&Ps for school, change the litter box, clean my car [my bedroom, my livi…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 18, 2008 at 8:17pm —
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There is a low-level buzz in the air right now. Like the sound a bumblebee makes on a really quiet summer afternoon. You have to listen really hard, but it's there. Just a small hum.
That low-level buzz is PIR.
My guess is that this happens to everyone, but it is lots of fun! I feel like things are moving again. There was a flurry of activity when Jamie left for GL: Leyna's graduation, Six Flags, MEPS, on the bus, to the airport, arrive in Chicago, arrive at GL, 30-second phone call...
Then t…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 16, 2008 at 12:02pm —
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I almost feel like a traitor for wishing our Navy dads a happy Father's Day. After all, this is the navyforMOMS website.
I know that many of you moms had little or no help from your children's dad. If that's your situation, I wish YOU happy Father's Day, mom, because you've had to be mother
and father.
But before you go off mumbling stuff like "lousy SOB" and "good-for-nothing jackass" and "worthless piece of $h*t" remember that he
did contribute half your child's genetic materia…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 15, 2008 at 12:07am —
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I've decided that this whole Navy thing is a lot like having a baby.
First you sorta talk about getting pregnant. But only in the vaguest of terms. "Yeah, I'd like to have kids," is about a detailed as it gets. The Navy version of this is, "I think I'm going to talk to a recruiter."
Then the decision is made: "We're going to try to have a baby." In Navy terms, "I've talked to a recruiter and decided to join."
The next step in the pregnancy journey is trying to
make the baby. Not surpri…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 14, 2008 at 11:49am —
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I don't consider myself an especially superstitious person, but one of the first things I thought of this morning was, "It's Friday the 13th."
I don't worry about black cats -- in fact, I own one. I walk under ladders, step on cracks and laugh before breakfast. I don't believe it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get my wish if I blow out all the candles on my birthday cake in one breath (mostly because there are too many candles, a…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 14, 2008 at 9:30am —
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Before I begin this, let me say upfront JAMIE IS FINE!
There has been some craziness going on here for the past 12 hours. I've gotten a bunch of people all upset -- over nothing. Now here's the story (some names have been deleted to protect the innocent):
I went to see Tim McGraw last night with my daughter and some friends. I got home about midnight and immediately got on N4M. I had a message from a friend that said:
Tina, a lady in chat said she thought something happened to James...Pleas…
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Added by Tina -- James' mom on June 12, 2008 at 1:43pm —
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